Enforcement mechanisms for mobile wireless service contracts are among issues to be sorted out in a process that first needs to determine what the code will contain, whether it should apply to all existing contracts, and how its effectiveness should be assessed.

The CRTC is expected to hand the CBC its licence renewal this spring, and it must decide whether to permit the broadcaster, after 38 years of commercial-free radio programming, to place ads on its music networks.

An internal review says institutional chaos and confusion — but not a coverup — were to blame for the BBC's disastrous handling of pedophilia allegations involving one of its best-known children's television personalities.

Television ads being run by startup carrier Mobilicity will continue to air this holiday season touting the company’s “unlimited” plans while taking shots at similar claims made by larger rivals like Telus Corp.

The Supreme Court of Canada says the CRTC does not have the authority to impose a value-for-signal plan under which television broadcasters would charge cable and satellite firms for their programming.

Private television broadcasters are warning that local stations can’t continue to exist on advertising revenues alone, after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled the stations shouldn’t be paid for their signals when they are rebroadcast by cable and satellite companies.

The CRTC is threatening to pull Oprah Winfrey Network Canada off the air unless owner Corus Entertainment Inc. proves it has taken steps to meet the educational mandate of the network’s original licence.

Columnist says Cineplex Inc. will not be a buyer of any Astral Media Inc. or BCE Inc. assets, regardless of what the companies put on the block to appease the regulators overseeing their $3-billion deal.

Representatives of more than 190 governments begin a profoundly important 12-day closed-door meeting in Dubai on Monday to hammer out how the Internet should be run and who should pay for its operation.

Columnist says Vancouver, Toronto and Halifax are booming as TV production centres again, after a decade-long slump due to everything from a higher Canadian dollar to aggressive U.S. state tax incentives to SARS.

FRIENDS says that despite promises from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, there is a 37 per cent gap between the increases in overall government spending and the CBC's decreasing portion of funding during the years 2006 to 2015.

FRIENDS says the move towards more commercialization will turn CBC into a private broadcaster which loses $1 billion a year rather than the public broadcaster that Canadians rely upon for credible news and Canadian entertainment.

Columnist says even if BCE manages to quell the CRTC’s concerns about its post-acquisition television audience share, its revised application would also have to satisfy more subjective criteria to cinch approval.

Columnist says the preponderance of sports programming for ratings and advertising revenue, especially the 60-year run of HNIC, has made CBC English television resemble a subsidized private broadcaster.

Executive vice-president of English services says CBC is already re-running TV programs because of federal cutbacks earlier this year and the NHL lockout threatens to create a bigger hole in the public broadcaster's winter season.

Columnist says Quebecor Inc. is cutting about 500 jobs at its Sun Media newspaper division in a move that includes closing two production facilities in Ontario as it copes with lower advertising revenue.

Columnist says Canada’s largest newspaper chain is slashing 500 jobs, shutting down two printing presses, and erecting more paywalls as it tries to cut costs by more than $45-million to deal with declining advertising revenue for its printed papers.

Columnist says the BBC is struggling to contain a spreading crisis over its reporting of a decades-old sexual abuse scandal as two senior executives temporarily withdraw from their jobs in the wake of the resignation of the corporation’s director general.

The BBC says a pedophilia scandal was the primary cause of an ugly episode that forced its director-general George Entwistle from office and has thrown top management into open conflict with the corporation.

Columnist says Telus Corp. is increasing its quarterly dividend following a surge in third-quarter earnings, which were helped by sharp growth in revenue from smartphone data services at its wireless division.

Culture Secretary Maria Miller says that a formal investigation into the BBC could be launched, if its own internal inquiries don't establish how Jimmy Savile's behaviour was allowed to go unchecked for decades.

Columnist says the head of the telecom sector's biggest player is awaiting word from the federal cabinet as to whether the government will force broadcast regulators to re-evaluate a $3.38-bil-lion bid for Astral Media Inc., which was rejected two weeks earlier.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission says large telephone and cable companies will have to make more information public on the rates they charge smaller competitors for space on their networks.

Columnist says that in a bizarre twist of history, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper is dismantling institutions, such as the CBC, initiated some 80 years ago by another Conservative prime minister, Richard Bedford Bennett.

Columnist says the funding records of Telefilm Canada, which provided financial assistance for 130 feature films released in 2010-2011, show a five-to-one ratio of male to female directors, with women writers doing only slightly better, at 23 per cent of the total.

Columnist says that building an open and inclusive digital commons is the best, and perhaps the only, hope the public has of sustaining a public culture that can underwrite and reinvigorate citizenship in increasingly fractured times.

CBC says it will cut $28.4-million from its spending plans by 2014 due to the national broadcast regulator’s decision to cut a programming fund that was created during the recession to help pay for local programming.

Columnist says When Jean-Pierre Blais, the CRTC’s new chair, scolded Bell last week for failing to present a vision for how it would use the Astral radio assets, it seemed he and Mr. Crull were in different universes.

Editorial states that the CRTC rejection of the aquisition of Astral Media by BCE Inc. was about the inverse correlation between concentration of ownership and plurality and shouldn't dressed up in politically correct jargon.

Columnist says telecom company Rogers Communications Inc. could take a look at "selective" assets of Astral Media if the specialty and radio company puts up a "For Sale" again after its sale to BCE was rejected.

Columnist says Canada’s Netflix revolution seems to have plateaued, as television viewers hang on to their existing cable and satellite packages rather than cut their cords and rely exclusively on online programming.

BCE submits its request that the federal Cabinet issue a policy direction, under Section 7 of the Broadcasting Act, that directs the CRTC to follow its existing policies when reviewing change of control transactions in broadcasting.

In December of 2011, Nordicity completed an assignment for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and Radio-Canada that sought to assess the impact on the CBC/Radio-Canada and on the wider Canadian broadcasting system if the CBC/Radio-Canada were to remove advertising from its television offerings.

Bell says it is appalled that the CRTC would come to a decision that so negatively impacts Canadian consumers and the national broadcast industry, contravenes its own policy and is tainted by behind-the-scenes lobbying by Bell's cable rivals.

Columnist says a long-standing complaint concerning Quebec navel-gazing by the CBC’s French-language news service has been revived as the national broadcast regulator considers Radio-Canada’s licence renewal.

Columnist says the CBC has a novel idea that takes into account that this is the first NHL lockout in the social media age and using that too its advantage, with its Hockey Night in Canada: Your Pick plan.

FRIENDS calculates that the CBC will suffer a devastating financial loss of as much as $200 million annually if it loses the rights to Hockey Night in Canada in 2014 when its agreement with the NHL expires.

FRIENDS says if the CBC adopts the PBS model of funding, it will be doomed to become a narrow elite service, rather than a mainstream player that is integral to Canadian democracy and generates almost 40 per cent of the audience for Canadian shows.

Columnist says the Federal Communications Commission unanimously approved a sweeping proposal to reclaim public airwaves now used for broadcast television and auction them off for use in wireless broadband networks, with a portion of the proceeds paid to the broadcasters.

Columnist says Peterborough MP Dean Del Mastro has largely slipped out of public view in Ottawa as Elections Canada investigates allegations that he broke campaign finance rules in the 2008 election and tried to cover up the violations.

Columnist says Canadian television networks stand to lose broadcasts that attract millions of viewers and generate millions of dollars in advertising revenue if the NHL lockout extends into the regular season.

Columnist says Zeebox, a British maker of TV companion apps, has struck its first U.S. deals with Comcast Cable, NBCUniversal, HBO and its Cinemax service, which will see the firm's apps used across more than 30 networks.

Columnist says Canadian television networks stand to lose broadcasts that attract
millions of viewers and generate millions of dollars in advertising
revenue if the NHL lockout extends into the regular season.

Columnist says new BBC Director-General George Entwistle's first speech echoes one of the missions set out for him on ourBeeb earlier this summer: to "create genuinely digital content for the first time"

The CBC has stepped into the debate over BCE Inc.’s $3.4-billion acquisition of Astral Media at the last minute, insisting it be allowed to voice its objection to the company’s plan to launch a French news network as part of the deal.

BMO economist says the performing arts, heritage and sports sector of Canada’s economy saw a decline of roughly 0.1 per cent of GDP during the 2004-05 lockout, which resulted in the cancellation of the entire hockey season.

Columnist says unchecked media concentration over several decades has allowed some groups to accumulate vast amounts of revenue and influence, with disastrous consequences for ethical journalism and democracy.

The spring 2012 wave of Ipsos Reid’s Mobil-ology, a study of the mobile
market in Canada, shows that the frequency at which Canadians are using
their Smartphones, Tablets and eReaders remains stable, however, the
average duration of time they report using them has declined.

Groups such as ACTRA, the Writers Guild, the CMPA and Directors Guild,
while not ultimately opposing the merger of Bell and Astral Media
outright, want to see major changes to the terms of the benefits
package and even see new regulations applied to Bell Media.

CBC, the sole winner of the broadcast rights for the 2014 and 2016 Olympics, reveals that it intends to strike deals with a long list of private partners to deliver those Games on cable, broadcast, online and mobile channels.

FRIENDS says that as Canada’s national public broadcaster, it’s CBC’s job to present radio and television programs that meet the needs of citizens, rather than delivering audience eyes and ears to advertisers.

The Competition Bureau alleges that Rogers failed to conduct “adequate and proper testing” before making the promotional claim that their network “had fewer dropped calls than new wireless carriers” and thus discredited its competitors.

While some American television viewers are grumbling about the retro feel to NBC’s London Olympics coverage, with tape-delayed broadcasts of the opening ceremony and other events, audiences in Britain are getting a more contemporary — even futuristic — TV Games.

VP of English Services says the CBC is inherently different than a group of private corporations, namely in their profit motive and dhe is not expecting the CBC to make money off the Olympics, but she’s confident they will break even.

As one of the country’s largest cable networks, Rogers is responsible for delivering specialty channels into the homes of its subscribers, with OMNI's mandate being to provide content in 15 languages for 60 per cent of the day.

Press release says CBC and Radio-Canada will shut down 623 analog transmitters on July 31, ending free access to the CBC and Radio-Canada over the air in hundreds of small cities, towns and rural areas.

Columnist says a Conservative MP who serves as parliamentary secretary to the Canadian Heritage Minister raised thousands of dollars in political contributions from people involved in a high-stakes campaign to win a new Toronto radio licence.

Columnist says the CRTC is doing away with a controversial fee charged by many cable and satellite companies to help improve local TV programming - and forcing them to stop passing the cost on to their customers.

News release says the CBC president's recent declaration that "Canadian content and culture would be the single 'biggest failed promise' of a purely free market broadcast model" represents a point of view that should guide the revision of the crown corporation's mandate.

Columnist says a decision to scrap a fund that helps pay for local television programming will save cable and satellite TV subscribers about the cost of a coffee a month, but threatens to put struggling local stations out of business.

Columnist says Cogeco Cable’s largely rural footprint has traditionally shielded it from cutthroat competition, but the growing popularity of advanced TV services from its phone company rivals is starting to pose a threat.

Columnist says Bell’s unprecedented proposal regarding "tangible benefits" is the first real test as to whether new CRTC chairman, Jean-Pierre Blais, will stand with the industry or with Canadian consumers.

In December 2011, national and international media leaders, scholars, practitioners and stakeholders met to address the challenges and opportunities facing visible minority screen media producers in the Canadian media industry.

The House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology discussed the future of online video and whether the Communications Act, which regulates cable, satellite and broadcast companies, should be changed or expanded.

Three ethnic radio stations are asking the federal government to overturn a decision by the CRTC that saw them passed over for a broadcast licence in favour of an out-of-province broadcaster and an English-language commercial station.

Columnist says some fear that as customers become more aware of how much broadband they’re using they’ll start to use less of it, and in that way, protect traditional forms of entertainment distribution and discourage new Internet services.

Saskatchewan artists speak out about the CBC's decision to eliminate all live recordings of musicians on the Prairies and Newfoundland, and about the dwindling presence of regional artists in general on CBC's national airwaves.

Columnist says that the big three of American technology all clearly have their eyes on the television market and with TVs getting increasingly advanced and internet-connected, they’re becoming more reliant on the software these tech giants specialize in as well.

“I very much doubt that any of the interveners actually think that they can stop the (MLSE) transaction; what I think they are hoping to do is to cause the CRTC to attach conditions that would, in their view, level the playing field,” says Ian Morrison, spokesperson for FRIENDS.

The Supreme Court has declined to address whether the government still has the authority to regulate indecency on broadcast television, but it ruled in favor of two broadcasters who had faced potential fines for programs featuring cursing and nudity.

Columnist says new shows developed for NPR face a big hurdle: limited open time slots and a risk-averse public-radio culture, where time-tested audience and money generators make it challenging for new shows to thrive.

An investigation has concluded that CBC/Radio-Canada had failed to fulfil its obligations under Part VII of the Official Languages Act by not consulting the Francophone community in southwestern Ontario or considering the repercussions that the radio station's closure would have on the community.

Former executive vice-president of CBC English services says that if the corporation is to survive recent cuts, it will need to make several tough choices, including between serving the public at large or serving elites.

Hubert Lacroix, president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada, says the broadcaster hopes to generate $50 million through various measures that include putting ads on Radio 2 and leasing more than 74,000 square metres of real estate by 2017.

Former CBC vice president for English Services says it's going to be very difficult to compete against the all-sports cable networks when it comes time for the public broadcaster to negotiate the next NHL rights purchase.

Columnist says the muted celebration and budgetary retrenchment surrounding the 80th anniversary of public broadcasting in Canada on May 26 are no reasons for Canadians to fret about the state of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

FRIENDS was able to garner enough post-budget financial support from Canadians to twice run a full-page ad in the Globe and Mail which revealed that the CBC is "being singled out for disproportionate, draconian damage."

Late night talk show host George Stroumboulopoulos, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and CBC dragon Kevin O’Leary were called upon to drum up support from advertisers for the public broadcaster’s leaner programming lineup next fall.

Cartt.ca editor says The Tower of Babble: Sins Secrets and Successes Inside the CBC is an easy, entertaining read bound to inform, anger, confuse and confirm a lot about what people in the industry have thought about both Richard Stursberg and the CBC.

According to speakers at Radio And Internet Newsletter's RAIN Summit West 2012, Internet radio and digital audio advertising is on track for a strong ad year in 2012 with solid CPMs and a growing local revenue base.

Columnist says Postmedia Network Inc. will shutter its breaking-news wire service and sign back up with The Canadian Press in a bid to save money and shift the news organization’s focus toward opinion writing and local news.

Columnist says that despite the appearance of business as usual, executives have been busy slashing CBC spending since the March federal budget, which decreed major cuts to the broadcaster set to reach 10 per cent, about $115 million, within three years.

Columnist says with so much at stake, it is worth asking whether the current approach to generating new capital for the creation of Canadian programming optimizes what has emerged as one of the largest sources of media funding in Canada.

Columnist says traditional news organizations, for all their shortcomings, see it as their mission to provide the information needed to form intelligent opinions, aiming to challenge lazy assumptions while Fox panders to them.

Richard Stursberg, former head of CBC's English language services, believes the culture at Canada’s public broadcaster has become less poisonous since his departure, but that it still faces a huge technological battle against better-funded rivals.

In addition to $2.7-million in spending cuts announced last month, Telefilm plans to slash nearly $8-million in funding and administrative costs over the next two years, including money for the production and distribution of dramas.

Sportsnet continues its roll on the soccer pitch, with word it has secured the Canadian multimedia rights to more than 250 soccer matches, including qualifiers and friendlies, leading up to the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil.

According to published studies by Dr. Tina McCorkindale, an assistant professor at Appalachian State University’s Department of Communication, “18- to 29-year-olds are the Facebook generation,” and it’s not the Millennial “likes” that assures ad success, but perks.

Columnist says the CBC is so professional that the Harper government is counting on that professionalism to prevent the CBC from saying publicly that the current federal government is deliberately singling out the CBC for heavier budgetary punishment because the it doesn't like the coverage it gets.

Recent cuts to the National Film Board will mean the elimination of three or four significant films per year, or the elimination of one major project per year – like last year’s acclaimed 3-D dance film Ora.

Public Safety Canada warns that Canada’s plan to allow foreign companies such as VimpelCom Ltd. (VIP) to increase their stakes in the country’s telecommunications providers poses a “considerable risk” to national security.

Columnist says when inflation, other increases and severance and forced-retirement costs are added, the CBC's real loss to its budget doubles from 10 per cent to 20 per cent and $200 million over the next three years.

Columnist says a number of Canadian media companies have joined forces to try to shut down a free music website recently launched by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., claiming it threatens to ruin the music business for all of them.

Columnist says the approximately $200 million in cuts Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is making to the CBC over the next three years is an ideologically driven decision that will do more to hurt the country than help.

Tony Manera, CBC's President in 1993 and 1994, says that at a time when we should be strengthening the CBC, the relentless chipping away of its financial resources further weakens the bonds that, however imperfectly, tie this vast country together.

Columnist says Canadians are beginning to feel the effects of the austerity measures laid out in the federal budget last week, with Department of National Defence and CBC employees among the first to report job cuts.

CBC President says the reduction of $115 million to its appropriation, combined with the unavoidable costs required to continue transforming the CBC into a modern public broadcaster, means the public broadcaster is actually facing financial pressures amounting to $200 million over the next three years.

Canadians need to have a “great debate” about the future of the CBC, including options like going commercial-free and using licence fees like those in the U.K. and Germany to fund it, a forum has been told.

Columnist says CTV appears to be considering disciplinary action for one of its high-profile Parliament Hill television hosts in the wake of an incident at a post-budget party attended by top government and opposition politicians.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's annual funding from the federal government will be cut by $115 million over the next three years, a blow that could lead to job losses or programming cuts at Canada's public broadcaster.

Columnist says cuts to CBC, Telefilm Canada and the National Film Board of Canada could lead to a significant reduction in Canadian film and TV production, and will almost certainly lead to layoffs at the CBC.

FRIENDS says the implications of a $115 million cut in funding will lead to the death of CBC Radio 2, make CBC Radio less relevant to Canadians, and reduce the depth, quality, diversity and distinctiveness of CBC News.

CBC/Radio-Canada has learned that its annual parliamentary appropriation will be reduced by $115 million over three years as part of the Deficit Reduction Action Plan (DRAP), as set out in Federal Budget2012.

Broadcast regulators held expedited hearings to resolve a spat between BCE Inc. and a group of television providers, including Telus Corp., regarding new agreements on the distribution of Bell Media's 29 specialty channels.

Columnist says local players show signs of panic after Saskatchewan says it will no longer accept applications for a refundable 45% film tax credit, based on labor costs, from April 1, including from Hollywood producers.

Columnist says local producers, sounding the alarm over the provincial government cut to its film tax credit, predict the local production sector will be hollowed out as they go elsewhere to shoot projects.

Blogger says that if the CRTC approves Bell's acquisition of Astral, Canada will have lost yet another independent and our position as having one of the most concentrated set of TMI industries amongst the developed capitalist economies will be yet further cemented.

Record store The Inner Sleeve has announced that it has purchsed CBC's massive local collection of vinyl and compact discs, which the broadcaster had announced earlier in the year it was going to eliminate across the country after digitizing the music in all of the regional collections.

Christian Paradis, Minister of Industry, announced that The Telecommunications Act will be amended to lift foreign investment restrictions for telecom companies that hold less than a 10-percent share of the total Canadian telecommunications market.

Columnist says that just as the Copyright Act is being revised by Parliament, providers of all kinds of communication devices and services - Internet services, smartphones, iPods and the like - are relying on highly conservative legal interpretations and strong lobbying to avoid liability for their part in the dissemination of works to the public.

Spokesperson says the thoughtful engagement in the early days of the "Reimagine CBC" campaign is a powerful rebuttal against those who would claim that the CBC is no longer relevant; that there is no place for public media in the age of narrowcasting.

Sources say CBC's vice-president of English services, Kirstine
Stewart, and Jeffrey Orridge, executive director of sports properties,
were blindsided by the vitriol they encountered after making a pitch to
keep the public broadcaster as the NHL's partner in Canada.

Columnist says the paradox of the CBC is that it must broadly appeal to all Canadians but it also must reflect smaller groups, be they regional, linguistic or otherwise grouped, back to themselves – and at the same time.

Columnist says that while on balance the CBC has done an admirable job reflecting Canada and Canadians back to ourselves, it is the advent of multiplatform media that will help the public broadcaster fulfill its mandate.

With political pundits predicting some austerity measures in the March 29 federal budget, the proposal to enlarge the current 57,000-square-foot building to about 90,000 square feet and consolidate about 170 staff in one central location has been suspended.

Columnist says as more screens surround our lives and technology serves up more entertainment options than ever before, Canadians continue to cling to the security of the television set and the schedule it provides.

Deluged with a staggering volume of grievances about fraudulent calls in the last election, Elections Canada is referring some complainants to another federal regulator – the CRTC – that also has a responsibility to police the country’s phone lines.

The need for revenue to partly cover the extension of the payroll tax cut and long-term unemployment benefits has pushed Congress to embrace a generational shift in the country’s media landscape: the auction of public airwaves now used for television broadcasts to create more wireless Internet systems.

FRIENDS says that expected funding cuts in the upcoming federal budget would have devastating consequences for listeners and viewers and could scuttle new services the CBC has promised to Hamiltonians and residents of several other communities.

Columnist says nobody should be surprised that the CBSC failed to find fault in Krista Erickson’s approach to a recent interview with Canadian dancer Margie Gillis as there is no regulatory mechanism for the censure of obnoxious behaviour on TV.

Columnist says that while talent is an undeniable part of the success of Quebec made films, nurturing has a lot to do with the result and is due in no small part to Radio-Canada’s role as an incubator.

Columnist says the themes for the CRTC have remained the same: how to effectively regulate amidst technological change and ensure that Canadian content remains vibrant in a tidal wave of foreign content.

The CRTC has received a letter from the CBC asking for hearings regarding their license renewal to be postponed, in large part due to the fact that the Corporation's operating budget is open for discussion.

Columnist calls for Stephen Harper to remove Heritage Minister James Moore from his portfolio over comments related to the appropriateness of the CBC's French affiliate showing foreign pornography on its website.

Columnist says the NDP is calling on Treasury Board president Tony Clement to bring the same sunlight to salaries in the Prime Minister's Office as the government shone on the highly paid staff at the CBC.

Columnist says the crisis of capitalism marks the triumph of consumers and investors over workers and citizens and the increasing efficiency by which all of us as consumers can get great deals with our declining capacity as citizens.

The NDP says the federal government should not liberalize Canada’s foreign investment rules for the telecommunications sector, not even for smaller companies, because there is little proof that doing so would benefit consumers.

The head of Wind Mobile says Canada should clarify its ownership rules for the wireless industry to attract more foreign investment, not discourage it, because the outside capital has brought consumers more competition and lower prices.

The International Olympic Committee has rejected a joint offer from Bell and CBC to televise the next Winter Games and the 2016 Summer Games, setting up a high-stakes showdown over how those Olympics will be broadcast in Canada.

Despite not being held to the same Cancon carriage rules as traditional broadcasters, YouTube reports that Canadian videos are being sought-out and viewed at a rate roughly on par with those originating in the U.S.

Film-makers, actors and critics argue British Prime Minister David Cameron's call for film funding to focus on "commercially successful" pictures would "dilute the quality of the product and mean we don't move forward culturally".

Despite the dispute between Time Warner and the MSG Network regarding the broadcast of Buffalo Sabres games, FRIENDS says it's not in the interest of MLSE to withold signals from other broadcasters and ever if it were, it would run afoul of CRTC regulations.

CBC’s ombudsman has suggested the police chief’s statements about Rob Ford’s 911 call last fall may lack credibility because Bill Blair is “not a disinterested party” and his budget depends on negotiations with the Mayor.